Can half an hour of exercise per day make a difference?

How does daily exercise make a difference? 30 little minutes can help lose weight, reduce stress and the risk of disease, improve your wellbeing and feeling of happiness.

Half an hour. That’s 30 minutes. A grand total of 1,800 seconds. What daily activity can you do in that time that’s going to make a difference to your life? You can do a bit of shopping, clean the car, write a blog… but that 30 minutes is rarely going to make much difference to you in the grand scheme of things.

But how about 30 minutes of exercise? It’s quite common for us to occasionally feel lethargic and lack motivation to engage in our daily exercise regime. That’s the time when our conscience sits on our shoulder, relentlessly reminding us we really should go to the gym. Well, it’s time to listen to it - here’s what half an hour of sweating it out can do for your health and fitness.

1. Half an hour can help shed weight

Exercising for 30 minutes a day can be more effective than 60 minutes for losing weight, according to WebMD. A sample group of 60 moderately overweight men were studied to explore whether a half-hour of daily exercise could make a difference, opposed to an hour-long workout. The study concluded that just 30 minutes of daily exercise was as good as or better than 60 minutes of daily exercise for moderately overweight men.

What’s the logic in this? Well, a shorter time felt more achievable for those who were moderately overweight. That’s not to say that you should ditch the 45-minute workout for a 30 minute workout daily, nor is it to say that 30 minutes of daily exercise supersedes the previous practiced 60-minute daily workout. It’s always good practice to listen to your own body and adjust the timing accordingly. If you’re feeling tired, reduce the length of your workout. If you’re bouncing with energy, go thrash the gym. Either way you’re burning calories.

2. It makes us happy

It’s been one of those days: those days where you can’t cope with another disappointment, those days when nothing makes you smile and you simply can’t bare to think about going out in the rain to work up a sweat. But donning your training shoes and going to the gym is actually proven to make you happy. A 30-minute high-intensity workout will stimulate chemicals in your brain, help you relax and leave you with a smile across your face from that lovable endorphin rush.

4. It reduces heart disease risk

Just 30 minutes of exercise per day can make all the difference in the fight to reduce heart disease. Something as natural as a brisk walk can improve your heart’s health, so whether it’s taking out the dog or walking to buy groceries, a half-hour stomp will get your heart pumping. Here is how you can walk yourself healthy.

5. It’s a sweet productivity booster

30 minutes is possibly the time it takes to leave the office, make a coffee and have a chat with a colleague - but do you ever get that post-coffee sluggish feeling? Rather than rely on caffeine for your energy boost and injection of inspiration, try getting out for a brisk walk. The great outdoors will work wonders for your energy levels and productivity when you return, so instead of grabbing that coffee, go grab yourself some fresh air.